15 of the 42 seats to Basildon District Council 22 seats needed for a majority
First party
Second party
Third party
Party
Labour
Conservative
Liberal Democrats
Seats before
23
11
8
Seats won
8
6
1
Seats after
20
18
4
Seat change
3
7
4
Popular vote
9,333
16,705
5,120
Percentage
29.5%
52.8%
16.2%
Map showing the results of contested wards in the 2000 Basildon Borough Council elections.
Council control before election
Labour
Council control after election
No overall control
The 2000 Basildon District Council election took place on 4 May 2000 to elect members of Basildon District Council in Essex, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Labour party lost overall control of the council to no overall control.[3]
After the election, the composition of the council was the following:
Labour 20
Conservative 18
Liberal Democrats 4[4]
Election result
The results saw the Conservatives make gains from both Labour and Liberal Democrats[5] to go from 11 to 18 seats on the council.[6] This deprived Labour of a majority on the council after 5 years[5] and reduced Labour's lead over the Conservatives to just 2 seats.[6] Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats lost half their seats to fall to have just 4 councillors,[6] but were left with the balance of power.[5]
The Conservatives gained marginal seats in Basildon from Labour including Laindon, Langdon Hills and Pitsea East.[6] They also took all the seats the Liberal Democrats had been defending in Billericay and Wickford.[6]
Following the election, the Liberal Democrat leader Geoff Williams said "issues will be decided on their merit and not on party politics".[6]
2000 Basildon Local Election Result[7]
Party
Seats
Gains
Losses
Net gain/loss
Seats %
Votes %
Votes
+/−
Conservative
8
6
0
6
53.3
52.8
16,705
22.5
Labour
6
0
3
3
40.0
29.5
9,333
16.4
Liberal Democrats
1
0
3
3
6.7
16.2
5,120
6.7
Independent
0
0
0
0.0
1.4
447
New
Socialist Alternative
0
0
0
0.0
0.1
37
New
All comparisons in vote share are to the corresponding 1996 election.